Beer: Ratings & Reviews

Reviews by Fish113d:

4.06/5 rDev +1.2%look: 5 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

Opening this, it appeared to be a dark-amber in color, which did not give much head, but did form some edge"line" around the goblet. I served it at room temperature which I do for most of my beers I taste. This barleywine is very floral in aroma, with a hint of sugar or caramel mixed in there somewhere. Upon tasting this, it gave first a sweet taste (caramel), and some hints of fruit come through, particularly raisins, but soon became more of a sour hoppy taste overall, in which the alcohol came through very apparently more at the end. 11.3%???? Yeah right! I am betting the ABV is more around 14-15% at this point (bottled in 2002). This beer has a great texture; creamy, smooth, but has some kick at the ass-end due to the alcohol. The carbonation is stingy at the front on my tongue and maintains itself throughout. I really enjoy this fine Rogue beverage....yet again why they are as good as they are!

More User Reviews:

Real nice pour,pours a chesnut brown with a slight orange hue with a nice creamy almond colored head.Aroma is fruity and sweet,a very chewy beer nice and fruity with a definent hop profile in the finish.This beer is an American classic to some and it is a very nice beer.

Taste/Mouthfeel: wow! overwhelming to say the least! hops galore and alcohol pow is right up front and throughout. the sweetness seems to come from raisin & fig. a wallop of black licorice is also in the mix. hop bitterness is huge on this brew and extends itself well after you complete your sip. very long & lingering characteristics. burried beneath all the mayhem there is a pinch of a nutty port-lke quality. the hop kick goes on forever post sip, it's crazy!

Drinkability: as far as barley wine goes this is great example. the big IBUs and alcohol kick may offend some and make the drinkability questionable. this one is a definte late nite sipper or even better if shared between 2.

Appearance - Brown, not dark brown, but so cloudy and thick it appears dark brown. I can't actually see the sediment, but I'm sure it's in there. This ale also showed off a beautiful head that laced the glass well. I thought high ABV ales weren't supposed to lace?

Smell - Nice malt and hop backbone to the sherry-laced aroma.

Taste - Watch out! The alcohol flavor is cranking on this one. The hops move back to the finish and the sherry runs up front. The malt base is thick and substantial though and is finally able to balance things out. This is like Old Guardian mixed with vodka.

Mouthfeel - Don't drink this with a cut on your mouth; the alcohol will send you screaming. It's actually quite smooth all things considered though. It's very full in the body, of course, and leaves a wonderful hop aftertaste.

Drinkability - This is definitely one of my favorite Barley Wines. Don't even think about giving this to your Budweiser Buddies, though.

Update - This ale cellars very well, so I stashed away a bottle of 2002 and opened it four years later in 2006 to share with my buddy skyhand.

It just reeks when you open the aged bottle. The rotten wine smell will curl your toes, and the dryness comes through at the nose. The monster pine hopping seems almost curdled, and the flavors amazing carry over the big hop balance even after all those years in the cellar. What a terrific ABW!

Update - I popped a cellared '08 in 2010 and OMG is this just ripe! The appearance is again absolutely magnificent and better than any other beer that I've ever had. It's not just a perfect 5.0 but better than the few other 5.0s I've given over the years.

This is such a unique ale, and the smells, flavor, and feel of it are in a class all by itself that really defies description. It is one of the most amazing beers that I've had the privelege to drink and is just a hair away from perfect 5's all around, mostly due to the overweight alcohol feel.

2004 bottling. Pours a deep cherry-brown color. Smells of raisin and other dark fruits. Taste isn't bad, but it's terribly raw. Hops assault my tongue, not in a good way, but in a too-bitter way that really detracts from the drinkability. I can detect a great beer in there somewhere, but I think this one needs to sit for a year or two. Mouthfeel is quite nice, however.

I will revisit this version in a few years, and see if I'm right or wrong about that rawness...

Bitter, bitter, bitter....holy shit, did I mention this was bitter? Sweet nutty caramel, dark fruits, molasses, some cocoa and citrusy hops. Stings and burns on the way down. Not much alcohol in the taste...but not much can get out from behind the wall of biterness.

Mouthfeel is nice, fairly thick and creamy. Good body, maybe a bit too much carbonation. Drinkability....well...I'm gonna finish this one but I'm not looking for another. This brew needs to age big time. I have a 2002 in the cellar that I look forward to trying. Worth a try just for the experience.

Dark brown pour with red highlights. Head barely had time to form before it disappeared to absolutely nothing on the surface. Im not going to knock this brew too much on appearance due to lack of head. It actually takes on a more wine-like appearance. Smell is fruity sweet, Im reminded of raisins and dark cherries to some extent. A little alcoholic in nature. There is definitely some sweet malt in the aroma. I dont pick up too much on any hop presence in the smell, Im sure its there but they must blend well with the other smells and just arent noticeable for me.

The taste is not as harsh as some describe it, I just dont find the bitterness many describe. It is quite complex after it sits on the palate for a bit. Initially I pick up on the sweet malts which transfer over to a piney resin hops towards the end. The finish after was unexpected. I detect some toasted malt flavors in the last bits of the finish. Alcohol is definitely warming on the way down. I feel it reeking havoc with my stomach lining.

Mouthfeel is nice as well, thick and slightly oily. Drinkability suffers a bit with the stomach agitating effects this beer has with me. I could maybe have two and then Id be done.

Overall, this beer exceeded my expectations. Im setting one aside to see how it develops next year, but this relatively fresh one is more then suiting. I was actually a bit scared to pop the top on this one, but Im certainly glad I did. Ill be visiting this one again.

This beer was part of a Rogue sampler I offered to some friends. I liked this better than they did. It was a dark red/brown color with a thick white head and some interesting lacing. I could detect fruit, wine, and caramel in the odor. The taste was all hops, and more hops, with some sweetness. Mouthfeel was just a touch cloying, but still a nice beer.

1996 Vintage: Redbones BBQ in Somerville, MA tapped this baby last night at their North West Fest. Whoa! Pretty rough stuff! The hops were incredibly puckering/assertive and the malts were intensely complex. You could lay this down to mellow for another 10 years, easy.

The yeast had broken down in the keg and leech out a bready/yeasty flavour in the background, and there was loads of proteins and the like permanently suspended in the beer, but it was still a good beer.

The beer poured a dark reddish color with very little head. It had a wonderful, fruity, rich, creamy, almost cherry ice cream soda type of aroma.The first mouthful had a cherry, hoppytaste with a very smooth mouthfeel.Then a very bitter backtaste made itself evident. After further sips, a strong alcohol presence became evident. I would have liked this better if I had more time to drink it. Definitely a slow sipping brew.

2002 bottle. Poured out with just a teensy bit of honeyed cream colored head that sat atop the cloudy rootbeer/amber colored brew. So nice and piney scented with hops floating out at you. Grapefruity and woodsy with sweetness in the background... nice sweet malty scents. Wow, surprising first sip! So dark and pine filled, tons of hoppiness in there! Darkness, burnt toast, peppery and warming alcohol. Not much carbination going on, which I like, just such a good mouthfeel to it. There may be too much going on flavorwise to make this a session, but damn nice to sit back for a few, just to sit and enjoy and taste, and smell.... Man, can Rogue do anything wrong?

I will preface this review by admitting that I'm not a big fan of barleywines. This 12 oz bottle of the 2002 edition pours a deep, chesnut brown, with no head and no lacing.
Aroma is very much like a sherry or port wine, but has some floral hops notes in the background.
Mouthfeel has a slight hops bite, an alcohol presence, and is minimally carbonated.
Taste begins dry and bitter, with a vinous alcohol dominance. Sweet maltiness emerges as the tulip glass warms, and an abundance of dark fruits make their presence known. Plums and vodka-soaked raisins are very apparent in the profile, but a vinous and hoppy bitterness maintain authority over the flavor profile.
This Crusty reminds me of a strong Belgian dark ale, minus the spices and yeast character. Overall, a nice introduction to the barleywine style.

A deep, dark brown...very hazy with tan head. What little head formed, disappeared almost instantly. Lace also very slight.
Notes of cherries, with a touch of chocolate. There is nothing grabbing me at this point...especially since I have had alternate Barleywines for the last two days and this one is the least aromatic.
But wait...the taste is a very thick, flavorful experience....with coffee and malts smacking me in the face. This beer is dry and bitter, but it is balanced enough to have a very attractive flavor. I also taste some raisins in here.
The alcohol is very hidden, which allows this 11% plus to sneak up on you, but to say I would have more than 2 of these in an evening would be false. Not my favorite (on my very short list), but I am really glad I picked this one up.